Scripture Daily

Context No. 1020 of 4322 · Jeremiah

Context · Reflection

Jeremiah 10:1-10: in context

1Hear the word which the LORD speaks to you, house of Israel! 2The LORD says, “Don’t learn the way of the nations, and don’t be dismayed at the signs of the sky; for the nations are dismayed at them. 3For the customs of the peoples are vanity; for one cuts a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman with the ax. 4They deck it with silver and with gold. They fasten it with nails and with hammers, so that it can’t move. 5They are like a palm tree, of turned work, and don’t speak. They must be carried, because they can’t move. Don’t be afraid of them; for they can’t do evil, neither is it in them to do good.” 6There is no one like you, LORD. You are great, and your name is great in might. 7Who shouldn’t fear you, King of the nations? For it belongs to you. Because among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their royal estate, there is no one like you. 8But they are together brutish and foolish, instructed by idols! It is just wood. 9There is silver beaten into plates, which is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the engraver and of the hands of the goldsmith. Their clothing is blue and purple. They are all the work of skillful men. 10But the LORD is the true God. He is the living God, and an everlasting King. At his wrath, the earth trembles. The nations aren’t able to withstand his indignation.

Jeremiah mocks the idols of the nations to comfort a frightened people. Do not learn the way of the nations, God says, or be terrified by omens in the sky as they are. Their gods are absurd: a man cuts a tree from the forest, a craftsman shapes it, they cover it with silver and gold and nail it down so it will not topple over. Such idols are like scarecrows in a field, unable to speak, unable to walk, having to be carried. Do not fear them, God says, for they can do no harm and no good either. And then the contrast: there is none like you, LORD; you are the true God, the living God, the everlasting King.

The comedy in Jeremiah's picture is deliberate. He wants the people to see how ridiculous their fear of the nations' gods really is. The idol has to be nailed down so it will not fall over; it cannot move, so it has to be carried everywhere; it cannot speak; it can neither hurt you nor help you. It is, Jeremiah says bluntly, just wood, dressed up in silver and blue cloth. Why would anyone be afraid of a god you have to carry, or trust one that cannot lift a finger for you. And the whole point is to lift the people's eyes back to the real thing: there is none like you, the living God, the King of the nations, at whose wrath the earth trembles. The contrast is total, a dead thing you carry versus the living God who carries you, a god that cannot act versus the one whose word made the world. The cure for fearing lesser powers is a clear sight of the living God beside whom they are only carved wood.

What lesser power am I afraid of that is really, like these idols, unable to help or harm, and would a clearer sight of the living God shrink it back to size?

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